Nine Feet Underground

Every waking moment there’s some tune or other sinuously snaking between, through and round my thoughts, frequently bubbling to the surface like…well, like bubbles surfacing. Three songs have been chasing their tails through my neural pathways this week and they’ve now broken out and surfaced in this playlist…

Great news! Almost 5 years after their last compilation album Amorphous Androgynous have announced the fourth volume in their brain-mashing ‘A Monstrous Psychedelic Bubble (Exploding in Your Mind)’ series.  Subtitled ‘Wizards of Oz’ the latest volume’s name provides a clue to the contents – and no, before you suggest it, it has nothing to do with a similarly-titled film. Due for release on the 23 rd March ‘Wizards of Oz’, like its predecessors is a 2-CD continuous mix of cosmic space music but this time focused on music from Australia and New Zealand.  In part the Australian bias is probably in response to the success of bands like Tame Impala and Pond (both of which feature in the mix), though there are plenty of names new to these ears.  Let’s hope this compilation is as strong as the three volumes that preceded it! More details of the album can be found on the Future Sound of London site  here. In the meantime a couple of tracks have already appeared on Soundclo

In order to keep up with the stream of new albums so far this year I recently listened to Natalie Prass and Napalm Death whilst carrying some “brain-largely-not-required” chores.  One thing I generally find difficult is multi-tasking where music is concerned. Very rapidly music gains my full attention and then spreads its tendrils to the pleasure and motor centres of my brain, but the chores were simple enough that the music remained to the fore and the jobs got done. Enough on the idiosyncrasies of my wiring… So, Natalie and the ‘Death – quite a contrast – and not just because Nat’s (hope she doesn’t mind the undeserved familiarity) album is her debut whilst the Nap’s album is their nth – how did they fare I hear you cry? Thanks to the glowing and unanimous praise heaped on ‘Natalie Prass’ – for example ‘a gem of a heartbreak album’ (Observer), 8/10 Uncut – it had to be worth a listen.  Sadly, it didn’t live up to my expectation based on the reviews: the musical settings a